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CPU 2018-19 B
Brandon Tapia - 29 January 2019 Central Processing Unit (CPU) The central processing unit, abbreviated as CPU, is an essential component found in desktops. laptops, tablets, and even smart televisions. Other names for the CPU are the processor, microprocessor, central processor, or "the brains of the computer." What Modern CPUs Look Like: The most common modern computer CPUs are square shaped and are generally very thin. Modern CPUs connect to the CPU slot on a computer's motherboard with rounded, metallic connectors. Older versions of CPUs would connect to the CPU slot with pins. The issue with these pins, however, would be that the pins could be very easily bent. Figure 1, to the left, shows what a modern CPU looks like. The History of the CPU: The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer , abbreviated as ENIAC, was one of the first computers created. Because it was one of the first, it was not very refined. To hold all of the material that would allow the computer to function, it weighed about as much as fifteen cars combined. ENIAC used punch cards for data collection. There was no small CPU, but rather, the entire machine functioned as a sort of CPU. There were none of the essentials or commodities found in today's computers such as sound output, optical drive, and long term memory such as the HDD. The Intel 4004 processor, released in the 1970s, was the first modern CPU built. As shown in figure 2, to the left, the Intel 4004 was much larger and was differently shaped than modern CPUs as well as being much less powerful. The First IBM PC , one of the most influential early computer companies, used the Intel 8088 processor. Intel, at the time, however, was not the incredibly influential CPU maker that it now is. At the time, it was not more popular than other CPU makers such as Motorola and National Semiconductor. By the early 1990s, however, Intel had become the leading maker of CPUs. In the late 1990s and continuing to today, AMD became one of Intel's largest rivals. In the mid-2000s AMD and Intel began to change their approach to creating new CPUs. Instead of simply focusing on making the clock speeds of their CPUs faster, AMD and Intel began to focus on the number of cores inside their CPUs. AMD and Intel developed dual-core processors, and later, quad-core processors, 6-core processors, 8-core processors, and 10-core processors. Now, if one is willing to pay enough, one can even buy a 32-core processor . How CPUs Work: CPUs have two main sections. One section is the control unit and the other section is the arithmetic logic unit, abbreviated as ALU. Additionally, CPUs have a small amount of internal memory, however, they rely heavily on other external memory such as RAM. The internal memory that CPUs do contain is called registers and is used mainly for supplying instructions and data to the ALU. The control unit of the CPU receives information through input devices such as external memory sources, reads the information and understands it, and then does the function that the instructions told it through by controlling the output devices. The ALU helps the control unit when there needs to be arithmetic or logic done. Figure 3, below, shows a diagram of the components of a CPU. CPU Clock Speed: CPU clock speed is one of the factors with which a CPUs power can be measured. Clock speed measures the number of instructions that a CPU can process in 1 second. Clock speed is measured in gigahertz, abbreviated as GHz. For example, if a CPU had a clock speed of 7 Hz, the CPU could process 7 pieces of instruction per second. That speed is absurdly low. Modern CPUs can have a clock speed of around 3.0 GHz. This means that 3 billion instructions can be processed per second. CPU Cores: As stated earlier, modern CPUs can have, and generally do have, more than one core. If a CPU has two cores, it can process double the amount of instructions that a single-cored CPU can with the same clock speed. Therefore, a dual-core CPU with a clock speed of 3.0 GHz, can process 6 billion instructions per second. If a CPU is quad-core, it can process instructions at a rate four times faster than a CPU with the same clock speed. Hyper-Threading: For every physical core that a computer has, a CPU can create two virtual cores. This process of creating virtual cores and utilizing them is called Hyper-Threading. While virtual cores do help increase the performance of the CPU, virtual cores do not function at the same level as physical cores. Cooling the CPU: Because CPUs are so integral to the functioning of a computer, they do a lot of work and, therefore, can get very hot. Overheating technology such as CPUs is not ideal because it can damage their performance and even totally ruin the piece of technology. To keep CPUs from overheating, they generally need a heat sink attached to them as well as a fan to blow the hot air away from the heat sink. Figure 4, below, shows an image of a heat sink and fan. Conclusion: CPUs are incredibly necessary for a computer to run. Having a powerful CPU will help the computer with speed and performance. When buying a CPU, one must look at the clock speed as well as the number of cores. Having higher clock speed and a smaller amount of cores causes the computer to run differently than have lower clock speed but more cores. Video-editing software relies heavily on multiple cores and less heavily on the clock speed of the cores. Some programs can only use one or two cores, making more than two cores in one's CPU useless. Additionally, some computers work with 64-bit designs and others work with 32-bit designs . This limits the amount of CPUs one can use in his or her computer. Every motherboard has a certain slot for the CPU, the CPU must be the same size for it to attach to the motherboard. In conclusion, It is necessary to choose a CPU that will perform to the best of the abilities on the tasks being run as well as being compatible with the computer Sources Amazon: www.amazon.com/A701000608-HEATSINK-AND-FAN/dp/B0052NCX2S Bright Hub: www.brighthub.com/computing/hardware/articles/62215.aspx Encyclooædia Britannica: www.britannica.com/technology/ENIAC Lifewire: www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-cpu-2618150 Puget Systems: www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/ReMake-2017-CPU-Comparison-991/ Techopedia: www.techopedia.com/definition/2851/central-processing-unit-cpu Tutorials Point: www.tutorialspoint.com/computer_fundamentals/computer_cpu.htm Webopedia: www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CPU.html